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Fixing 'degraded' plaster walls

19 years ago

In pulling several layers of wallpaper off the kitchen walls in our 1926 house, we found an area of plaster (behind the refrigerator) that appears to be degraded. Instead of being smooth it looks like a concrete sidewalk surface: very rough and crumbly. Does anyone have any thoughts about how to prepare this surface for primer/new wallpaper? And maybe some idea of how the surface got this way to begin with?

Thanks.

Toby

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Comments (5)

housekeeping
19 years ago
Is the plaster loose from its keys (the part of plaster that is squashed through the lathe and holds it on the wall). You can't see this, but you can feel it if you push gently on it.

If the keys are loose or broken, but the plaster is still in place you can reattach it using plaster washers.

Now as to texture, it's possible that you are looking at a patch that was not finished with a top coat. Undercoats (and there are one or two of them) have a brown, rough texture, that could be described as looking like cement. This is not a problem unless you want to move your fridge and expose that wall. In that case you could have a plasterer come and make you a smooth top coat in that area, or try doing it yourself, with either real plaster, or a not so great, but still adequate solution, of using something like joint compound. If you plan to re-wallpaper, just paper over it.

In some of my service rooms, I have beautiful very old smooth-finish plaster, but in my best rooms I just have scratch coats because they were easier to apply wallpaper to. And wallpaper was more expensive that homemade calcimine or milk paint, so it was reserved for parlors.
ericwi
19 years ago
There is a heavy type of plain wallpaper, called "lining paper," that is intended to be used underneath patterned wallpaper. Lining paper can be used to cover cracks, and will help stabilize loose plaster. If the plaster is pulling away from the lath, it will take more than lining paper to make a good repair, however.
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Thanks for the advice! So, here is the follow up for anyone interestedÃ¢ÂÂ¦ I tried several products including a 2 step epoxy, a white glue (not E), goop, PlasterWeld and a thin liquid nail product with a fine dispensing tip. The thick stuff was too thick and I couldn't get it in the cracks. The PlasterWeld was too runny and just dripped through the lath to the floor. What I really wanted was a medium consistency product that could be injected in the crevices and used to reattach the keys. Boy, was I naÃÂ¯ve about how tedious this would be AND about how long it would take. I reattached a bunch of keys on one section of one wall, tried to insert glue where there were gaps between the lath and plaster in a small area. Then I gave up. It would have taken hours and hours to really cover the walls. I have no idea if the newly glued keys will hold or if the fills in the gaps will help. But I tried! I am happy that the sheet rock will be going up over those exposed areas this week so I wonÃ¢ÂÂt feel like I am supposed to keep trying. Again, thanks for the suggestions!
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Nancy- A single, typical threaded insert has a pullout strength of at least 80 pounds, so they are entirely adequate for this job as long as the size is properly matched to the hole. The fastener you are talking about -- a molly bolt with a wing nut -- is not as good in my opinion as the nut makes a hole much bigger in diameter than the bolt itself. Over time this can allow something that is used frequently (like a TP holder) to move around a bit and sometimes the bolt loosens. An alternative molly bolt that does not have this problem is a hollow drive molly bolt that does not have a separate nut but consists of a tubular shaft that compresses behind the wall when the bolt is screwed in; the shaft fills the hole so there is no wiggling around of the bolt. However, the hole must match the fastener diameter; if the hole is oversize it can't be properly set. It also has the advantage that you can remove and reinsert the bolt repeatedly since the tube part doesn't fall behind the wall like the single use wing nut style.
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joed
19 years ago
Sounds like the scratch coat may be esposed. The finish coat has fallen off. If the scratch coat is solid it could be refinished with a finish coat.
The entire scratch coust could be removed a draywall patch installed.
brickeyee
19 years ago
If you want a flat and smooth surface you can skim with setting type joint compound (Easysand). It is a slightly more modern plaster but still a plaster product. It hardens by chemical reaction, not drying like premixed drywall mud.
The build would have been about 1/8 inch of finish plaster, so check if it looks like that much is missing.
oldtoby
Original Author
19 years ago
The plaster seems to be firmly fixed to the lathe, so that's not a problem. Maybe I'll just do the Easysand coat, prime it and put lining paper over it. That should stabilize things.

Thanks, all.

Toby

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